Heirs of Holocaust victims and a Jewish federation have filed two lawsuits in California against the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz Memorial, seeking the return of art allegedly looted by Nazis. These actions leverage new state and federal laws designed to aid restitution claims for cultural property seized during WWII, sparking a renewed legal battle over historical artifacts and generational trauma.
Two significant legal actions have been initiated in California by representatives and heirs of Jewish Holocaust victims, aiming to recover paintings seized by Nazis that are currently held by the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Auschwitz Memorial. These lawsuits are the first challenges under new state and federal legislation, including California's AB 2867 and the federal Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR Act), designed to strengthen claims for cultural property taken during World War II by eliminating statute-of-limitations deadlines. One lawsuit, filed by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair Daniel Gryczman, targets the Norton Simon Museum for the return of 'Adam and Eve,' a pair of 1530 life-size panel paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. These works were allegedly taken from Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker by Hermann Goring. The Federation, assigned legal rights by Goudstikker's sole heir Marei von Saher, plans to use most net financial recoveries to assist Holocaust survivors in the Los Angeles region. The second action, brought by the daughters of late Holocaust survivor Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, demands the surrender of watercolor portraits she was coerced into creating for Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. The Auschwitz Memorial, however, argues these specific watercolors, depicting Roma captives and documenting Mengele's experiments, should remain as crucial historical evidence of atrocities, not categorized as 'Nazi-looted art' in the traditional sense as they were created under duress by an inmate without legal ownership. Museum spokespersons maintain valid legal title to the paintings and intend to keep them on public display. The Norton Simon Museum cites a 2018 federal court ruling confirming its ownership of the Cranach works and states they were acquired after a complex chain of ownership from a Stroganoff descendant, not directly from Nazi plunder. California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who drafted AB 2867, emphasizes the importance of public institutions being on 'the right side of history.' Legal experts like Joel Greenberg of Art Ashes highlight that the new laws will ensure cases are heard on their merits, providing Jewish families procedural fairness and an opportunity to present ownership claims in court, making sure the stories of European Jewry are not lost and forgotten.
